Digimon Tamers: Quantum Conflict
by DinoGuy2000
Summary: The Tamers have fought many enemies over the years, primarily enemies of a digital origin. However, the Tamers are about to fight an enemy like they have never fought before. A human who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, even if that means destroying entire universes. Contains OCs.
1. Opening Shots

A.N.- Why, hello there! This is my second attempt at authoring a Digimon fanfiction, and my first multi-chapter Digimon fanficton. I hope I do well. I'm attempting to create a slightly darker atmosphere than the show had for Tamers, and I tried to keep the characters as in character as possible. Please do leave feedback, as I'm actually desperate enough to know what people think that I wouldn't really mind flames. Constructive criticism would be preferred, however. Now I present to you, my audience, with this: Digimon Tamers: Quantum Conflict!

Radio communications are in italics.

 _Standard disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Digimon, they belong to Toei animation and Bandai of Japan. If I did, my OTPs would be canon._

* * *

It was a pleasantly warm summer day in Shinjuku, one that didn't confine everyone inside with drowning humidity. Many people were taking advantage of this by having a fun day at the park. Among the many people in the park were a group of teenagers gathered around a concrete hut; along with several creatures which varied widely in their appearance. The teenagers, now relatively well known thanks to the fact that they saved the world, were the Tamers. The creatures could now be identified as digimon, specifically the partners of the Tamers. It had been four years since the D-Reaper attacked and three years since the digimon returned. After the barriers between the worlds had been strengthened with the defeat of the D-Reaper, they almost immediately began to decay. The decay was not exponential, and had entered a state Hypnos called 'variable stability'; where the strength of the barrier between the digital and human worlds was in flux.

Eventually, the weakened barrier allowed digimon to begin bio-emerging again, and the first ones to do so were not their partners. The few digimon who began to attempt to bio-emerge had been stopped by Hypnos and their Yuggoth program; but stronger digimon eventually found their way to the human world and caused significant destruction before being contained or destroyed. With the threat of digimon a major concern again, Hypnos launched a search for their partners. By manipulating the barrier near the digimon, they were able to create rifts for the digimon to return through. Once the digimon returned, the lives of the Tamers had once again become similar to their lives before Juggernaut forced them to give up their partners. Currently, the Tamers were enjoying their summer break from school.

The Tamers, upon closer inspection, were separated into two groups. More specifically, one group of four clustered near the steps to the hut and a lone redhead lounging beneath a tree. The digimon were playing some form of tag a small distance away, with the exception of a kitsune in the branches of the tree the redhead was lounging under. Said redhead appeared to be napping. The other group, however, was far more lively.

"Yeah, I beat you again!" The visor wearing Tamer named Kazu said.

The only girl of the group placed a hand to her chin and looked toward Kazu.

"Isn't that your fourth win, Kazu?" The brunette girl named Jeri asked. She was, thankfully, lacking a sock puppet on either of her hands.

Kazu opened his mouth to reply, but he was interrupted by the blue haired tamer.

"It is his fourth win, and with the same strategy no less." Henry said, glancing at Kenta as he said the last part. Kenta hung his head in shame as the rest of the group looked at him.

"Yeah! A chimpanzee could play better than you!" Kazu taunted, pointing at Kenta.

"Yeah, well, at least the chimpanzee would smell better than you!" Kenta shot back. Jeri giggled while Henry rolled his eyes as the two Tamers threw insult after insult at each other.

"Would you two loudmouths shut up?! Some of us are trying to take a nap!" Came a new voice. Both Kazu and Kenta froze in terror. They had made the mistake of waking the Digimon Queen, and with her, her wrath. The blood drained from their faces as they looked toward each other hoping to come up with some way to save themselves. Their savior came in the form of the sudden appearance of the goggle-wearing Tamer named Takato, with Guilmon in tow.

Takato was tearing down the path through the park, only slowing when his goggles started to fly off his head. His hand shot up and grasped his goggles in an attempt to keep them on his head, where they belonged. Takato slowed even more as he neared the group.

"I'm here! Sorry I'm late!" Takato called finally stopping in between the redhead and the other Tamers. He placed his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Guilmon immediately ran off to join in on the game that the others were playing.

'Typical Gogglehead.' Rika thought, shaking her head at his antics. She laid her head back onto the ground and tried to resume her nap. The others had a similar reaction, and soon afterwords they switched Kenta out for Henry and set up for the next game.

Takato was eventually able to breath normally again, and walked over to Rika. Rika was blissfully unaware of the approaching Gogglehead and was understandably surprised when she heard someone fall onto the ground next to her. She jumped and quickly caught herself with her hands, now supporting her new sitting position.

"Hey Rika." Takato merrily greeted.

Rika turned her head to look at Takato, who had his hands behind his head and a smile on his face.

"What took you so long, Goggles? Did you forget about us?" Rika asked with a smirk.

"No," Takato replied, "I was helping my parents with the bakery and I lost track of the time."

Rika sighed at his response and shifted herself so that she was siting against the tree. Takato remained where he was and only looked at her through half lidded eyes. He watched her as her eyes traveled over all of their friends, and all he could think about were his feelings for the girl. He had come to like her quite a bit, but he still liked Jeri in a similar way as well. He hadn't actually told Jeri how he felt about her after they watched their partners return to the digital world. After losing Guilmon, he had lost his nerve. It seemed that in the meantime, he had developed feelings for Rika. Now, he wasn't completely sure of his feelings toward either of the girls. Takato could not, in good conscience, tell one girl he had strong feelings for her when he had similar feelings for another girl. He would only feel like he was lying to them. He was jerked from his thoughts when Rika started talking.

"School is going to start again soon." Rika said with a frown.

The Tamers had turned, or were turning, sixteen this year, and were all in high school.

"You still go to a private school, don't you?" Takato asked.

"On the other side of the city, no less." Rika replied with a roll of her eyes.

"You know what that means, don't you?" She asked, glancing down at Takato. When he didn't reply, she continued.

"That means I won't be able to see you all as much anymore." She said with a hint of sadness.

Takato rolled onto his side and looked at Rika. "Don't be like that, Rika. We'll still see each other pretty often." He thought for a moment before continuing. "I'll even walk you to school! Every queen has a knight, right?"

Rika rolled her eyes and let out a groan. "Gogglehead, I doubt you would ever get up early to walk me to school and get to your own on time." Her eyes narrowed. "And I don't need a knight!"

'But maybe I want one.' She thought. 'No, he likes Jeri. He'd never like me like that.' She blushed as she realized what she had thought. 'Not that I like him like that or anything.' She banished her thoughts with a shake of her head. She leaned her head back on the tree and smirked. Takato rolled on to his back and closed his eyes. Rika's eyes went to the other Tamers as Kazu let out a shout of defeat.

"Just relax, Rika. It's summer, and everything is fine. What could possibly go wrong that we aren't already used to?" Takato asked with a light voice.

Rika looked at him and frowned. "You probably just jinxed it, you stupid Gogglehead."

* * *

A tall white man of European, or possibly American descent, with light brown hair walked down a nondescript hallway; complete with annoyingly bright lights which seemed to be a necessity for stereotypical hallways. His black, leather-gloved hands clenched into fists, his only company was the sound of his combat boots against the tile floor. His face seemed to be locked in a perpetual frown, which deepened as he began unbuttoning his black greatcoat.

'Damned lights.' he thought, piercing blue eyes flickering toward the ceiling.

He opened his grey greatcoat to reveal an older forest camouflage pattern for his shirt and pants.

The man's frown deepened even further as he thought, 'They keep the meeting rooms dark, so why are hallways so bright?' His face returned to a neutral expression as he rounded the corner to his destination.

He took in his unassuming destination, a plain wooden door at the end of a bland hallway. The man smirked.

'All I need to do is convince these idiots to support me, and I will take my rightful place at the head of the most powerful Empire in the infinite multi-verse.' he thought happily.

The man returned his face to a neutral expression, now halfway to his destination. 'I shouldn't get ahead of myself. All in due time.'

He reached his destination and took a deep breath, held it, and then released after a few seconds. The man opened the door and stepped into the dark room.

The room was surprisingly small, containing only a computer console and four screens. The screens were numbered one through four from left to right. The man glanced at his watch on one hand and activated the back light with his other hand, turning him into a silhouette.

'If these fools are anything, they're punctual. The meeting is set to begin in ten seconds.' True to his prediction the screens came to life ten seconds later to reveal four silhouetted figures.

The man rolled his eyes. 'How cliché. Though, I look the same.' He thought. The man took a deep breath and started the meeting.

"I have called you all today to ask for your assistance in my campaign against our mutual enemy." He spoke in English with an accent of the American Midwest.

The man on screen two leaned forward and replied, " Greetings, call sign Dovev, if I may start with a question?" This man's voice revealed nothing of his origins, with it being fed through a voice modulator first. The man, now christened 'Dovev' nodded.

"Why have you chosen this universe to start in?" The man on screen two questioned.

"As you all know, through the 'many worlds' interpretation of quantum mechanics, there are an infinite number of universes for an infinite number of possibilities. This has been proven to be reality. Therefore, there are an infinite number of universes where zombies reign supreme, children share their bodies with gods, and where our enemy has no presence, just to name some examples. The last example is why I have chosen this universe, so our only obstacle is a few children and their digimon."

"What about the children and their digimon? Will they not stop you?" The man asked, leaning forward.

"The best way to stop them is to kill the Tamers and their digimon partners should go on a rampage. Though, perhaps only the virus digimon will, as the others aren't nearly as aggressive." Dovev said, contemplating the last part. "Nonetheless," He continued, "I have plans in place to keep the Tamers from biomerging."

"But why not a universe where the digidestined are not in contact with our enemy?" The man on screen four asked.

"The barriers between the human and digital worlds are weaker here, and there isn't some meddlesome digital man like Gennai to organize a defense."

The man on screen four nodded in understanding.

The man on screen three asked, "Then why not a universe with some other powerful entities, like ghosts or demons?"

"Our enemy is capable of killing most creatures easily, like ghosts and most demons, but has trouble with digimon. The weapons capable of killing digimon are not mass produced in the Empire."

The man on screen one leaned forward and asked, "Will other versions of our enemy not stop you or help our version?"

"The infinite number of our enemy operate independently most of the time. The low threat I represent, and the fact that I have successfully evaded all attempts at surveillance guarantee that we will have no problems like that."

"Basically," Dovev surmised, "I am his problem, so the others won't interfere."

The man on screen one surmised, "You want access to our resources so you can raise an army and take command of our enemy's Empire."

Dovev turned to screen one and replied with a smooth, "Correct. You will all be rewarded greatly when I have taken my rightful place as head of the Empire." The man on screen one nodded.

"We have a deal." all four people on the screens said simultaneously. "Everything you have requested will be sent to you in three weeks." With that, the group cut the transmission.

Dovev turned on his heel, and left the room, entering the plain hallway again. He hissed and squeezed his eyes shut when they were assaulted by the bright lighting. He stopped to let his eyes adjust to the light, and then made his way out of the building. He turned into the lobby of the building and closed his greatcoat. Walking to the main entrance of the building, he made a few adjustments to his coat and emerged onto the streets of Osaka. He turned to his right and joined the crowd on the sidewalk as he walked toward his hotel.

'The Tamers will fall and I will have my revenge!' Dovev thought. 'Such a shame though, I kind of liked them.' After finishing that thought, Dovev donned a grin, his first grin in many months, a grin full of venom and malice.

Unknown to Dovev, a man smirked as he followed him, moving fluidly and unnoticed in his advanced stealth suit.

"Positive ID on target Dovev, sir. Shall I dispatch the target?" The man asked into his built-in radio as he snaked through the crowds of people.

" _Negative. There is something we're missing right now. Continue to follow the target Stealth Commando 2942._ " Came the reply through the radio.

"Understood." the stealth commando replied, focusing his efforts towards remaining undetected while following the target.

* * *

 **Five weeks later**

Takato was sitting at his desk, drawing. He tried to erase the landscape, but only succeeded in ripping the paper. He grumbled and threw the ruined paper in his trashcan by his desk. Takato grabbed a clean sheet and leaned back in his chair. Takato had recently embarked on a personal mission to draw each and every one of his friends with his improved skills. Lately, however, he had worked himself ragged finishing the several he had done. In order to do his best work, he had decided to take a small break, hence the ruined landscape. He scanned his wall in front of his desk, now covered in drawings of landscapes, buildings, and digimon.

Takato had greatly improved in his skills from four years ago from when he drew up Guilmon; and he was using his improved talents to draw his friends. He had finished Henry, Kazu, Kenta, and several others that he didn't actually see often, like Ryo, along with their respective digimon. Those drawings were now stored in a binder on his desk. His attempts to draw two of his very best friends were less than successful. Takato was having difficulties trying to draw Rika and Jeri. Staring at his blank paper, a thought occurred to Takato.

'What would Rika do if she knew I was drawing her?' That train of thought quickly led to several possibilities, many of which weren't good. Shaking his head, he returned his train of thought to its original subject. No matter how hard he tried, he had yet to create something he deemed even 'good.' He glanced to his right at the binder of completed drawings. Simple pencil sketches, but he was able to capture so much in them. He then glanced to his left at the much thicker binder of failed attempts, most recently filled by Rika and Jeri.

'Jeri and Rika.' Takato's mind drifted to his two best female friends. Time had changed them both. Puberty had taken effect and both had developed impressively in the physical sense, but Rika pulled ahead of Jeri in that area. Rika had inherited her mother's beauty, among other things. Takato mentally slapped himself as a blush was forming on his face.

'Bad hormones.' Takato thought with a scowl. 'They're my friends, I shouldn't think about them like that.'

His mind wandered toward a less hormone-driven direction. 'Jeri and Rika had also changed mentally, or emotionally, which would be applicable here?' Takato shook his head and refocused his thoughts. 'Jeri had mental wounds from losing Leomon and the torture inflicted upon her by the D-Reaper. Rika, on the other hand, had warmed up to the others. Though, she was still aggressive, so it was in everyone's best interests not to anger her.'

Takato thought about the two girls a little more. 'I like Jeri; but is it friendly, sibling-like, or a simple crush? Maybe something more perhaps?' And then there was Rika. 'Do I like her as a friend? A crush? Perhaps even love?' That thought caused him to pause. 'I feel strongly for Jeri, along with Rika. Are these feelings love, or something else?' Takato sighed and looked down at the blank paper. It was late, and he had school tomorrow.

"I'll finish later." Takato mumbled, sliding out of his seat toward his bed. After sliding under the covers he suddenly felt drained. As he drifted off to sleep, one last thought entered his mind. 'I have plenty of time to sort out my feelings, don't I?'

* * *

A.N.- Alright! There goes chapter one! How many words was that? About... 3,000!? Uh, I might not be able to repeat that often. I will try, though! Anyway, review Comrades! As I said before, I'll accept a wide range of feedback. Literally, any feedback about this would be greatly appreciated. Well, I'm finished.

 **Auf Widersehen!**


	2. Chapter 2

A.N.- Whoo! Chapter 2! Didn't think I'd make it this far, so this is going great! I tried to keep the chapters a similar length, and so far, I'm close. Radio and sound effects are in _italics._

 _Standard disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Digimon, they belong to Toei animation and Bandai of Japan. If I did, my OTPs would be canon._

* * *

 **23:30 JST**

Several mercenaries were currently waiting for their deployment orders in an unused warehouse in Yokohama's port. Most of the soldiers-for-hire were clustered around several tables, each table covered with uniforms, armor, and weapons. Two soldiers were inspecting the vans near the supply entrance.

"These are our deployment vehicles, da?" A tall, broad-shouldered man asked in a deep voice with a heavy Russian accent.

"Ja. Zey are not armored very vell, zo." A shorter, much thinner man replied in a somewhat high pitched voice with an obvious Germanic accent. He placed his right hand on his chin and leaned forward to inspect the vehicle. The siding on the van would barely stop handguns, and would do nothing against faster rifle rounds.

"I do not zink ve can escape easily in zese vans." The Germanic man speculated.

Before they had a chance to comment further on the subject, a door at the other end of the warehouse slammed open. In walked Dovev, along with a few other men, wheeling in two cork boards with maps pinned to them. Dovev walked inside a few paces, stopped, and clasped his hands behind his back. The boards were wheeled to spots behind and to the left and right of Dovev. The soldiers quickly lined up in front of Dovev and snapped to attention. Dovev looked them all over, and then began.

"Good evening, gentlemen. I will be briefing you on our mission objectives for tomorrow."

Dovev turned to the map on the right and pointed to it. It was a map of a large building, with several markings in various colors detailing certain areas of the building or phases of the operation.

"The Tamers will be attending school again tomorrow, and they will also die tomorrow. You gentlemen will be killing them." Dovev turned to look at them, and he studied their faces. He saw no hesitation.

"We already have their schedules, so you'll know exactly where they should be." He continued. "They need to be dealt with immediately and efficiently. I cannot risk them interfering with my plans. Even the partner-less Jeri must die." Dovev stared each man down, daring one of them to flinch. When they did not, he continued.

"We will discuss the specific details of each squads' plan later. First, I want to direct your attention to the equipment I have prepared for you over there." Dovev said, pointing to the tables the soldiers were clustered around earlier.

"As I'm sure you have already noticed, the uniforms and armor are all assigned to individual soldiers. The weapons, however, are free game. They are all extremely common weapons, Kalashnikovs and Glocks and the like. They are all the same and should be no problem for any of you to use."

Dovev looked them all over and asked one question.

"Do you all understand me?"

The simultaneous reply was, "Sir, yes sir!"

Dovev smirked and said, "Then let us begin."

 **03:30 JST**

A convoy of six black vans entered Shinjuku. As soon as the last van entered Shinjuku, it broke off from the line and drove toward the industrial area of Shinjuku. It's mission was elsewhere today. The rest continued deeper into the city for several minutes. Finally, another van broke off from the group and drove deeper into the city toward its objective; while the last four split up and surrounded their objective, making sure all entrances and exits were visible to the drivers.

Inside each of the vans were five heavily armed and armored soldiers and a driver. The men and the city remained deathly silent.

The silence in the vans was broken by a voice over the radio.

" _Good morning, gentlemen. Let's go over the missions for today again, shall we? Team A, your mission is a simple one. Kill some defenseless children and make it look as if terrorists killed them. That is a simple red herring to keep the government distracted while we get in position for phase two."_ Dovev instructed his soldiers with an authoritarian tone.

" _Team B, your mission is to kill Rika. Tactically, you have the greatest chance of success. Rika is the only Tamer in the area, so she will have no backup."_

" _Team C, your mission has no action today, as you need to secure the base."_

" _Once those brats are taken care of,"_ He continued, _"Kill anyone you please until we evac. Then we have the Japanese Imperialist Front, the terrorist group we created, take the blame."_ He stopped for a few seconds to let his instructions sink in until he continued.

" _After that, return to base."_ Dovev finished. He took a breath and gave his last command until his operation began. " _We start at ten hundred hours, local time."_

* * *

Henry was curled up in his bed dreaming, occasionally twitching in his sleep. A troubled look crossed his face, and he clutched the blankets closer to his body. In his dream he could see only blurred colors and shapes that vaguely resembled people. Henry also had a curious feeling, terror. No matter how he looked at something, he could only see blurred shapes and colors, and could only feel terror. Suddenly, muffled screaming reached his ears.

'Those screams sound like some of my classmates.' Henry realized, before he awoke with a start.

He sat up in his bed and took several deep breaths, and then looked at his surroundings. He saw Terriermon asleep at the computer, his face on the keyboard. His eyes moved to the clock by his bed. The numbers read 4:00. Having calmed down, Henry realized that he could barely remember what had woken him up. He closed his eyes, trying to recall more information, only to find he could not. He could only recall screams. Henry laid back down on his pillow.

'It was just a nightmare.' Henry reasoned. Having calmed sufficiently, Henry drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Rika was sprawled out on her bedroll, her blanket tossed aside at some point in the night, dreaming as well. She could tell that she was outside in her dream, somewhere on the way home from her school. Annoyingly, she was unable to see anything aside from her surroundings. No people, no cars, just the road, sidewalk, and a couple of trees. Suddenly a feeling of surprise ran through her, before being replaced with fear.

'Why am I scared?' She wondered. 'There's nothing to be scared of.'

Immediately after that thought, five dark, blurry figures surrounded her. She could tell that the each of the figures were holding something long in their hands, and that the items were pointed at her. After a few seconds, a yellow and white blur impacted a blurry figure on her left. The dark figure went flying while the yellow and white figure hit another dark figure in front of her. Rika realized she knew only of only one thing that was yellow, white, and fast.

'Renamon is in my dream.' Rika realized. 'But what is she attacking?'

Renamon, now clearly identifiable, leaped up into the air and turned toward the two figures on Rika's right side. Renamon crossed her arms and launched an attack, and the figures released an agonizing scream. They fell to the ground and stopped screaming. Red quickly began pooling beneath their forms.

'Red?' Rika thought.

'That looks like blood.' She realized. Digimon don't bleed. The beings around her were people! Her attention was brought behind her only to see a rifle barrel in her face. She woke up with a gasp. She sat up and looked around her barren room to see Renamon standing near the foot of her bed.

"Are you alright?" Renamon asked, moving closer to Rika.

Rika took a few deep breaths and answered, "Yeah, it was just a dream Renamon."

Renamon tilted her head to the side. "I sensed you were scared, so I came to check on you."

"Do you remember anything from the dream?"

Rika thought for a minute and replied, "I remember screams, blood, and looking down the barrel of a gun. It was just a dream though," she continued, "so I'm going back to sleep."

"Sleep well." Renamon left and Rika laid back down, drifting back to sleep.

* * *

Takato woke up in a cold sweat with a jump and found himself breathing heavily, his hand reached for his neck.

'A nightmare. That's all it was. But what happened?' Takato wondered. 'I remember fear, and a pressure on my throat making it hard to breath. And then, relief.' He shook his head, unable to make sense of what he remembered.

In red the clock blazed with the numbers 4:00. As he calmed down, he was filled with a sense of foreboding. He laid his head back on the pillow, but was unable to fall back into peaceful slumber. With a sigh, Takato slid out of bed and walked over to his desk. He stared down at the blank sheet of paper, and then looked at his clock.

'Why not? I've got plenty of time.' He seated himself at the desk and began to draw.

 _Scratch scratch scratch. Rub Rub. Brush._ A constant cycle of drawing, erasing, and brushing away the eraser shavings. Slowly, but surely, a picture was emerging. A vague head shape, and the signature hairstyle of a fiery redheaded tamer. Takato absentmindedly glanced at the clock and did a double take. The clock glowed with the time 6:30. How had he spent THAT much time drawing!? It would be a miracle if he were to be on time to school. He carefully set the drawing in his bag, thinking he could work on it later that day.

As he began his morning routine he wondered how he could save time. 'Maybe if I do both of those at the same time? No, maybe if I skipped that? No, but maybe I can rush through that?'

An hour and a half later, Takato ran out of the bakery, a bag of day-old bread in one hand, some bread stuffed in his mouth, and his school bag and signature goggles halfway on. He tore down the sidewalk, his dark blue hoodie and jeans catching the air, as he made his way to the park. His dash down the crowded sidewalk was stopped by a crosswalk. He quickly adjusted his goggles and schoolbag as he waited for the signal to cross the street.

 **08:10 JST**

'I might make it to school on time.' Takato thought as he bounded up the last of the steps to Guilmon's hut. He looked up to see his red-skinned, reptilian friend with a concerned look on his face.

"Takatomon! You're okay!" Guilmon exclaimed, wrapping his friend in a hug after he opened the gate.

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Takato questioned with a confused look on his face as he set down the bread. Guilmon quickly dived into the bread and began feasting. He swallowed what he had in his mouth.

"All I remember is that I woke up and all I could do was worry about you." Guilmon shoved some more bread into his mouth. "There's a bad smell in the air too." Guilmon said, swallowing the bread.

'A bad smell?' Takato wondered, his eyebrows knotted together in confusion.

"I don't know what it is," Guilmon continued, "but I don't like it." Takato rubbed Guilmon on the head and stood up.

"I've got a weird feeling too, but I have you to protect me." Takato said, finishing with a grin.

"Hey chumly! You're gonna be late!" a loud voice called from behind Takato. He spun around and to see Kazu and Kenta waving at him. Takato shut the gate and ran down the steps, waving to Guilmon as he did so.

"I gotta go! I'll see you later Guilmon!" Takato shouted. Guilmon merely waved his goodbye, as his mouth was currently full of bread.

Takato joined up with Kazu and Kenta, and the trio sped towards school.

"I can't believe this! I woke up early today and I'm still late!" Takato complained, pulling on his hair.

"You woke up early?" Kazu questioned, amazed.

"Yeah, I had a nightmare, or something I guess." Takato replied, shrugging.

"Whoa, you had one too?" Kazu asked, flabbergasted.

"When you woke up, could you remember any of it?" Kenta asked, looking at Takato.

"I could remember a little of it."

"We couldn't remember our dreams." Kenta replied with a frown.

"That's not normal, even for us." Kazu said as they arrived at school.

"I'll ask Henry about it in class and tell you at lunch." Takato said, dashing into school.

He looked at the clock as he ran inside. 8:25. 'Late on the first day. Crap. What else is going to go wrong?' He thought grimly.

* * *

A.N. I'm writing this AN in June. I left this untouched for months. I'm sorry. As of June 22, 2015, this is almost complete. I just have to tweak some dialogue. Whenever this gets posted, I'll add some more to this depending on the feedback I get.

Hey! Did you like chapter 2? I haven't gotten any reviews yet, so I don't even know if anyone liked chapter 1. Anyway, those accents in the beginning were super cliché, weren't they? I hope you enjoyed reading! Please leave a review!

 **Auf** **Wiedersehen** **!**

June 26, 2015- This is pretty much done! I'll add some more here addressing any feedback before I post it.

12/6/15- Minor edit

12/10/15- Final check and posted

5/9/16- Retcon because I can't count.


	3. Chapter 3

A.N.- Chapter three! I'm doing pretty well! Actually, I let this sit untouched for months. Bad DinoGuy2000, bad! Anyway, 6/22/15, I'll finish this part once I get some feedback, if any.

1/9/16- Finished!

Hello! I present the third chapter of Digimon Tamers: Quantum Conflict!

But first, I'll reply to reviews. Or actually, my only review so far.

To the Guest, Melontine: If you didn't see on my profile, the Tamers are 16-ish in this fanfiction. It was briefly mentioned, so I'm not surprised you missed it. As for the younger Tamers, I honestly don't have any plans for them. They might make an appearance later, but I don't have anything major for them. I really hadn't put much thought into Ryo, but after you reviewed I realized he would fit in quite well in the future. It's the far future though, so it'll be a while. There may be a couple references to the first two, since those are the only others I've seen, but nothing huge. I'm glad you thought the rambling was cute! That wasn't even my intended result, but I'm glad it turned out that way. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

 _Standard disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Digimon, they belong to Toei animation and Bandai of Japan. If I did, my OTPs would be canon._

* * *

 **08:25 JST**

"Takato Matsuki, Kazu Shioda, and Kenta Kitagawa have arrived late, as usual." A soldier in the passenger seat mumbled into his radio, lowering his binoculars. His voice betrayed a Germanic origin. His name tag read 'Gottwald'

"Wong and Katou have already arrived, so all the Tamers here are accounted for." He stated.

" _Copy that. What about Bravo Team?"_ Dovev asked.

" _We are behind schedule._ " a voice of Australian origin answered. " _By the time we are in position, the operation will have already started._ "

" _With the delay, you won't be able to kill Rika immediately, if at all. Tactically, you had the best chance, and that's been compromised!"_ Dovev angrily said.

Dovev fumed for a few moments before he continued. " _No matter, it can be salvaged. She still has no Tamer backup._ "

" _Her school will either be on lock down or release the students._ " Dovev surmised. " _She is stubborn,_ " he continued, " _If they release the students early, she will probably walk home. With her mother busy doing model things, it will take time for her to arrive to get her daughter. If the girl is picked up, however, we will kill her later tonight._ " Dovev paused. " _Continue as planned with the other Tamers. We will deal with Rika when the time comes._ " Dovev ordered.

"Understood." Gottwald replied. He glanced at the clock. 08:30 hours. The operation would begin soon.

* * *

Takato was tearing down he hallway toward his first class, algebra. He skidded to a halt in front of the classroom door and threw it open only to receive quite a shock. In the front of the class stood Ms. Asaji. He stared at her with his mouth open while she stared back with an annoyed expression.

"I see your habits haven't changed much, mister Matsuki." She said in an even tone.

The students already in class turned to look at Takato and started snickering at his predicament.

"What? But I thought- Why are you-" Takato was unable to form a coherent response, so he decided on an apology.

Takato bowed and said, "I'm sorry I'm late, Ms. Asaji. It won't happen again."

"I doubt that, mister Matsuki. To answer your unasked question, I transferred to the high school this year. Now go wait in the hall for you punishment." She motioned toward the direction Takato came from.

Takato nodded and closed the door. As he leaned against the wall, he only had one thought. 'How bad could today get?'

Takato was left to his thoughts for a few minutes, and, as expected, his mind wandered until he wasn't even aware of his surroundings. So when the door finally opened, Takato was extremely surprised, causing him to jump several inches in the air. Ms. Asaji was unprepared for Takato's surprise, and she herself faltered in her stride in surprise.

"What was that for, Takato?" She asked with a hand over her heart.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something and you startled me."

Ms. Asaji shook her head. "We can't have any of that here, Takato. This is high school, and you must focus on your school work."

"Yes, ma'am."

"This means you can't be late everyday as well. The rules are far more strict than in middle school."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I won't be late again." Takato finished his promise with a bow.

Ms. Asaji pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She had a feeling that wouldn't be the case. She turned to the door and opened it, then she looked to Takato. "Take a seat Takato."

Takato was sprinting down the hallway toward his second class. He glanced up at a clock and started running. He had gotten lost in the hallways and was now dangerously close to being late to his second period class. He grinned as he came to the door and turned into the class as the bell rang. He attempted to stop and succeeded after skidding several inches on the floor. He panted as he looked at the elderly teacher, who had a bored expression on his face. The class broke out into giggles and the teacher glanced at them.

"You're cutting it close." The teacher sad, looking at Takato. He then nodded towards the class and said, "Have a seat."

Takato looked to the seats, and saw Henry sitting in the row near the door. He then spied a seat in front of him and quickly made his way towards it. He sat down and gathered his supplies for the class on his desk. Henry chuckled and leaned forward a bit.

"The Takato Tornado has made his return, I see." Henry whispered, snickering afterwards.

Takato nodded at Henry's remark as he settled into his seat. A few minutes passed before Takato remembered what he had to talk to Henry about. The teacher was currently droning on about whatever subject he taught. Takato had long forgotten, and turned to Henry who sat behind him.

"Hey Henry," Takato whispered, "Kazu, Kenta, and I all had strange dreams last night. Do you think it means anything?"

Henry tapped his chin, his face having a look of contemplation.

"I had one too, and I remember something from mine." Henry spoke, glancing away from Takato. Takato had a look of surprise before he began to question Henry.

"Do you remember anything specific, or was it vague? Do you remember if anyone was in it?"

Henry cut in before Takato could ask anymore questions. "I don't remember any specifics." Henry said. Henry's face shadowed and had a look of fear. "All I remember is screaming. Screaming and a feeling of terror." After finishing, Henry slumped down in his seat. Takato had a thoughtful look on his face.

"So four of us had nightmares. I wonder if Rika or Jeri had one as well." Takato pondered. He turned around in his seat and looked at the clock. 9:45.

* * *

As soon as the class had started, Kazu and Kenta had stopped paying attention to the teacher and had put all their efforts into passing the time. Currently, they were flicking rubber bands at each other; since they sat next to each other. Kenta had a thoughtful look cross his face as he took aim at Kazu.

"Do you think those dreams mean anything?" He whispered to Kazu as he launched his rubber band. Kazu dodged and readied his own shot.

"You're asking me? With our luck, it could be anything! Heck, it could have been Rika invading our dreams or something." Kazu launched his own shot, which impacted Kenta's arm. Suddenly, a piece of chalk impacted Kazu's head and both Kazu and Kenta's eyes shot toward the teacher.

"If you two wish to go down to the office on the first day, I recommend you continue what you were doing. Otherwise, face the board and pay attention!" The old teacher barked.

Once the teacher turned back to the board Kazu leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head.

Kenta, while pretending to take notes, whispered over to Kazu, "But those dreams were really weird. They probably mean something."

"Well," came the reply, "We won't figure anything out by guessing. We'll just have to wait and see if they do mean anything." With that, Kazu looked over at the clock. 9:50

* * *

Jeri was sitting in her class only halfway paying attention. She was currently staring at her paper while her mind was a million miles away. 'I have a terrible feeling about today.' Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration. 'I had a terrible dream last night. I hope everything will be alright.' She frowned as the thoughts of fear led back to Leomon.

Flashback

She stood there in shock as Leomon lie on the ground, gradually dissolving into data. He looked to Jeri and said, "Be brave, Jeri. Part of me will always be with you. Remember, you have a lion's heart." Leomon then completely dissolved into data and was absorbed by Beelzemon as she screamed.

Flashback end

Jeri's breathing hitched and she closed her eyes. She slowly exhaled and then slowly took a breath in. Jeri let the sadness come and go, as had become so easy for her in the recent past. She straightened her back in her seat and looked forward toward the front of the class.

'That was four years ago. It's been hard Leomon,' she thought, 'but you've helped me through it. Thank you for the strength you gave me, the strength that let me forgive Beelzemon and move on in life.' She finished her thought with a grim smile. Her smile became a frown as she remembered why she was worried in the first place.

'That dream.' She thought as she fidgeted in her seat. 'I remember that dream too well. I've remembered all my nightmares too well since the D-Reaper kidnapped me. I was in a classroom.' She glanced around the classroom. 'This classroom, actually. I remember fear, blood, and screaming. So much screaming.' Jeri leaned forward in her seat and supported her head with her hand. 'I hope Takato, and all my friends, were alright then. I know it was a dream, but still...'

Jeri's thoughts returned to Takato, and the fluttery feeling that he caused in her chest. A small smile graced her features. 'Oh Takato, I know you have a crush on me, but I'm not sure I know how I feel about you. Do I like you like a crush, or maybe like a sibling?' She looked up at the clock and saw that it was 9:55.

* * *

A.N.- 6/22/15: Well, I guess I could call this done, but I want to get this closer to 1500 words, author notes excluded. Ah, well. I'll come back to this later, see what I want to add or change.

11/7/15: 1600 words. I wish I could get in some more, but that's all I've got for now. This chapter is finished.

1/9/16: How was that? I know this chapter was a bit short, but I need to set up things for the next chapter. This is all I could think to fit in here. Well, review please! **Auf** **Wiedersehen** **!**


	4. Chapter 4

A.N.- Okay, chapter four! This one has the potential to be the longest one yet!- 6/23/15

2/9/16- The action begins! No new reviews, which makes me a little sad, but I'll just keep writing this until I get so disappointed at the lack of feedback that I quit. **On the topic of feedback, things start getting dark in this chapter. Should it go up to an M rating?**

 _Standard disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Digimon, they belong to Toei animation and Bandai of Japan. If I did, my OTPs would be canon._

* * *

 **9:55 JST**

One of the soldiers glanced up from his watch. He looked to the other four soldiers-for-hire behind him, all clad in balaclavas and gray urban camouflage BDUs, and then looked toward the school. He raised his radio and keyed the microphone.

"This is Anderson from squad one to all squads." Anderson spoke with an English accent. "Squad one will secure the main office, and postpone the news of our arrival." He took a breath and continued. "Then we will secure the ground floor. Squad two will secure the top floor, while squads three, four, and five will head toward their objectives." He paused to look at his watch and continued. "In two minutes we will start. Squad three will target Kazu and Kenta on the second floor. Squad four will target Jeri on the top floor. Any questions so far?" Anderson questioned.

"No sir." Came the simultaneous reply from four soldiers.

"Excellent." Anderson said with a smile. "Now, squad five, you have the most important targets. You will target Takato and Henry on the third floor." His eyes narrowed and he frowned. "Failure to eliminate these targets is unacceptable. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" came the reply from the leader of squad five.

Anderson looked at his watch again. "One minute! Lock and load!" He bellowed. The soldiers then locked in their ammo magazines and chambered a round.

"Remember, every third round is an AP round! Count your shots!" Anderson yelled over the radio. He stared at his watch, watching the seconds count down.

"DEPLOY!" Anderson screamed.

With that order, twenty-five soldiers poured out of five vans surrounding the school. Four of the squads ran for side entrances while one squad, Anderson's squad, ran towards the main entrance. Anderson ran through the main door and looked into the office. Inside he could see the confused and terrified faces of the staff. He burst through the office door as his squad spread out behind him, two on each side, and they all raised their rifles. The principal's door flew open and Anderson trained his sights on the old man.

"Remember, count your shots." Anderson said to his squad. He switched to Japanese and said, "Hands up! Don't move!" As the staff complied, Anderson motioned for the soldier on his right to move forward. "Find the cameras, and tell me when everyone's in position."

He then motioned for the two soldiers on his left to move up. "You two will clear the office, and bring anyone you find out into the hall." The soldiers all nodded and moved to complete their objectives.

Anderson looked back at the terrified staff and said, "All of you, out in the hall, line up on the wall to the right, and face the wall." He waited for then to comply. When they didn't, he aimed for one of the secretaries and shot her in the head, blasting blood, bone shards, and brains against the wall.

'One.' He thought.

"Now!" Anderson yelled. As the terrified staff complied, Anderson motioned for the remaining soldier to watch them. Anderson tensed his body as he noticed movement coming from around a corner as a voice said, "Friendly inbound." Anderson relaxed as a soldier approached.

"I found the cameras," He said. "and everyone's in position."

"Excellent." Anderson replied. He raised his radio and said, "All squads, you are clear to move." As the squads began moving to their objectives, two more soldiers walked into the front of the office.

"Office is clear, sir." The one on the left said. Anderson nodded and motioned for them to follow him. They walked out into the hall and stopped behind the staff. Many were visibly shaking in fear.

"Don't worry," Anderson said in Japanese. "all you have to do is cooperate, and you'll be fine." Just as he finished saying this, he walked up to a middle-aged man in line. He raised his rifle and shot the man through the heart. The staff let out screams as he laughed.

'Two.' He thought.

"Did I say you would be fine? I forgot to mention I'm a liar." He turned to the soldiers. "Kill them." He ordered. As the soldiers fired into the backs of the staff, Anderson looked out the door to see police vehicles. His eyes widened and he gasped in shock as he pressed himself against the wall.

Anderson brought his radio to his mouth and spoke, "The police are here! It's only been," He looked at his watch. "Ten minutes!" He finished.

'Fuck Dovev's orders. He's not paying us, and I'm not dying here.'

"Don't kill anyone yet! We'll need them to get us out of here." Anderson commanded. He frantically wondered how the police had arrived so quickly. Several hundred feet above him, a drone with a strange emblem on its nose was circling the school. Upon closer inspection, the emblem was a black picture of the earth, with a black katana on the left pointing to the bottom right corner behind the earth, and a black AK-47 on the right with the barrel pointed to the bottom left corner, all with white outlining. On top was a closed fist, with the palm side visible, also outlined in white.

 **In a room in an unknown location**

An airman pressed a few buttons on his keyboard and adjusted his web cam. When the connection was established, he gave a quick salute and quickly started talking.

"You were right to deploy a drone, sir. The mercenaries have assaulted the Tamers' school, and I've already alerted the authorities."

"Damn." The other person said, his voice coming out as a strange mix between auto tune and something like a robot. "What did you tell the authorities?"

"I told them there was a terrorist attack at the school, sir."

"Good, that should buy us some time." There were a few moments of silence before he continued. "What about Rika? Is there anyone attacking her?"

"Not at the moment."

"Deploy a special operations team to the school under attack right now, and have a stealth commando follow Rika." This time, the person on the other end of the call was talking to someone off screen.

"Good work, soldier." This was directed at the airman sitting at his desk. "Keep an eye on the situation, and report any updates to central command. They'll be organizing this for now." He cut the transmission.

The airman turned back to his control station and resumed his mission.

 **Tamers' School**

 **10:05 JST**

Kazu and Kenta were still trying their hardest to avoid learning about anything when they, and their entire class, were startled by a loud sound. Everyone jumped in their seats and looked at the closed door. The class erupted in a chorus of questions.

"What was that!?"

"Was that a gunshot?"

"Now way, a gunshot!?"

"Everyone, calm down!" The teacher yelled, attempting to restore order. "I'm sure it was nothing."

Moments after he finished that sentence, the door flew open and two soldiers burst into the room, one behind the other.

"Nobody move!" The first soldier yelled. When the teacher jumped up from his desk, the soldier shot at him. The teacher screamed and fell over, clutching his left hand with his right. Kazu and Kenta, along with the rest of their classmates screamed.

"Line up against the wall!" The second soldier said, aiming his rifle at the students. As they moved to comply, two more shots were faintly heard elsewhere in the school. The teacher, still on the ground, was grabbed by the first soldier and hoisted up. The teacher was then tossed toward the students; he then slowly rose and faced the soldiers as he stood in front of the students. He clutched his hand tighter as he saw them moving. The first soldier moved to the corner next to the windows and faced the group. The second soldier said something to someone outside, then closed the door and set his weight against it. While they were doing that, Kazu and Kenta began whispering to each other.

"Is this what that dream meant? That we were gonna die today!?" Kazu whispered to Kenta. Another gunshot sounded off, followed by several more close by.

"Looks like it buddy." Kenta whispered back. "It was nice knowing you." As they prepared themselves for the end, a voice came from the radios and the soldiers looked out the windows.

"Dammit!" As soon as they saw what was outside, they moved away from the windows. Instead of shooting the teenagers and teacher, they merely stared at them with contempt.

* * *

Jeri was jerked from her memories by the faint sound of a gunshot. The class was quiet for a few moments until a few people started to panic. Jeri looked to the teacher as she rose from her seat and drew the attention of the entire class.

"Everyone get in the back corner and keep your heads down. We're going into a lock down." The teacher said. As she went to the door, locked it, and turned off the lights, Jeri could only think of her dream. Jeri sat down next to her classmates as the memories of her dream ran through her head. Memories of blood, screaming, and fear.

Barely a minute passed before another shot was heard and Jeri flinched. Many whimpered in fear and some were crying a little. A few moments later, another gunshot was heard, closer this time. Everyone in the classroom was completely silent, as they waited for the next shots. Unexpectedly, the next two shots tore off the doorknob, and with it, the lock. The entire class screamed as two soldiers entered the room. The first one turned on the lights and pointed his rifle at the group. The last one lingered at the door, facing the hallway.

"You two set up in the hallways, and you wait by the door." He said with an Italian accent. He walked into the room and faced the huddled mass. Faintly, everyone heard another shot, and then a volley of shots. The soldier who had done all the talking so far chuckled and approached the group. He stopped when his radio crackled to life. He quickly backpedaled and leaned back up against the wall.

"Go put the blinds down." He ordered to the first soldier. He complied and quickly put them down over the windows. He glared at the huddled group, and settled on Jeri. As she met his gaze, she felt a wave of terror pass through her, and she huddled closer to the group of terrified students and a teacher.

"Looks like we'll be here a while." The first soldier said in an amused tone.

* * *

Henry was dutifully taking notes while the majority of the class, Takato included, was struggling to stay awake. They were all jolted to alertness when they heard a faint noise resembling gunfire. One student even fell out of his desk. That earned a few chuckles, but everyone grew quiet when another shot was heard, closer this time. Everyone grew tense as they waited for someone to do something. The entire class jumped at the sound of two more shots close by.

"Stay at your seats." The old teacher commanded. He got up and walked to the door. As he went to open it, he was pushed backwards by the door being pushed open forcefully. He landed hard on the ground and didn't get up. Henry and Takato, along with several other students gasped in shock and looked at the door to see two soldiers enter the room. One immediately turned around and said a few words to someone outside. He then closed the door and leaned up against it, aiming his rifle toward the class. The other soldier sauntered over to the desk and climbed on top. He let his rifle hang on a strap as he stared at the terrified faces. The group barely heard another shot, followed by a large burst. The soldier on the desk took a deep breath and looked to be preparing a speech when a voice came from his radio. The soldier let out a surprised screech and listen to the voice.

He stared at the second soldier, who looked at him and spat out one word. "Shit."

 **Guilmon's Hut**

 **10:05 JST**

Guilmon sat up and his eyes turned into slits. 'Takato is in trouble!' He thought as he stood up. He didn't know how he knew, but he just _knew_. Guilmon bashed the gate open with his head and charged towards the school.

"I'm coming, Takatomon!" Guilmon yelled.

* * *

A.N.- Almost 2,000 words in one sitting. Bloody hell, how do you people do this? This was exhausting! Anyway, still fun to write, but I have huge troubles with continuity. It's getting better though. Not the longest chapter, as I suspected it could be, but still a decent length, I think. Got it all written out on 6/23/15, think I'll let it set for a few day and look over it again.

11/7/15- Fixed a few things here and there, and I added the Guilmon scene. I can't think of anything else that needs to be done here. This sets everything up for the next chapter, and then some. Now I just have to write it.

2/9/16- Minor edits, and that rating question was added.

2/10/16- Final edit before posting. I hope you liked it! Read and review please!

 **Auf** **Wiedersehen** **!**


	5. Chapter 5

A.N. Chapter 5 is finally here! The action begins! Well, it sorta started last chapter, but we get some legitimate combat here. This is gonna be a pain to write out. Oh, well. I'll add some other stuff here based on feedback I get from previous chapters.

3/6/16- So, only one review. Thanks for the review, pittbuck! I'm glad that you like this so far. Sadly, a single review doesn't work well for motivation. I'll still write this fic, but not nearly at the speed as I had been. I might deviate from the schedule, and just post whenever I happen to have a chapter done. Not many people seem to be terribly interested in this. Anyway, this chapter makes me really wonder if I need to bump the rating up.

 _Standard disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Digimon, they belong to Toei animation and Bandai of Japan. If I did, my OTPs would be canon._

* * *

 **Air above Shinjuku**

 **10:30 JST**

Ten soldiers in full body armor, complete with a face mask and a red tinted visor on the helmet, sat in the back of a stealth transport. They sat in rows of five, opposite each other. The benches they sat on were a dark, solid, metal. The benches attached to the wall instead of the floor, which allowed for more storage space. One of the soldiers nearest the cockpit stood up, took a step forward into the aisle, and turned to the rest of his comrades.

"You all know your orders. Three of us retrieve Jeri, three of us retrieve Kazu and Kenta, and the remaining four retrieve Takato and Henry. Failure is not an option. If even a single one of those kids die, we all get executed."

A soldier sitting near the rear of the craft spoke up, emphasizing the importance of their targets. "Even if we were regular infantry, we'd still be killed for messing this up."

"In situations like these, the entire Empire is expendable. Unless you want your homes to burn to the ground, I suggest you don't mess up." The standing soldier, the commander of the squad, said.

"We'll be landing in two minutes." Came a voice over the intercom.

"Alright men, look alive!" Bellowed the commander. "Unstrap, stand up, and lock and load!"

The soldiers stood up, inserted a clip into their weapons, and chambered a round. Their weapons looked similar to M4 carbines, but were slightly larger. They fired a 6.68mm round, unlike the M4 for which they were likely based on.

They stood in silence until a small tremor went through the ship. The transport had landed in the center of the roof, decloaking at the last second. The rear hatch opened and the soldiers poured out. The first three spread out along the hatch and dropped to a knee with their weapons at the ready. The remainder ran out and went towards the door into the school. The commander looked to the transport and took in its half-teardrop shape, black color, and two jet engines on the side he could see.

"Cloak the ship when we get inside. I don't want to cause any more of a disturbance than we probably already have. Hopefully, no one saw us land." The commander said to the pilots over the radio. He moved to the edge of the roof and peered down at the streets. He saw the local police. He looked closer and saw a few SAT units.

"Check your targets." He said as he moved to the door. "We've got SAT units involved. I don't know if they're inside." He joined his comrades by the door as they prepared to breach. "Let's keep this quiet for as long as possible. Move softly." He checked the safety on his weapon and uttered a single word. "Go."

The soldiers quietly opened the door and walked inside. As there were no enemies near them, they all proceeded inside. As the last soldier entered the door, the pilots of the transport manipulated some controls and the craft vanished from sight.

The group stopped before they reached the main hallway and broke up into their groups. The commander and two others started towards Jeri's class, another three prepared to go to Kazu and Kenta's class, while the last four waited behind them to go to Takato and Henry's class.

"Remember, we've got a lot riding on this, so don't screw up." The commander said. "Be careful. Now move!" With that, the soldiers started for their objectives.

* * *

 **Mercenaries: Main Office**

 **10:35 JST**

The mercenaries of the first floor had hidden themselves from sight once the police had shown up. Most were in defensive positions in the halls to the left and right of the main doors, while one stayed in the office; with orders to watch the cameras.

"What the hell?" The lone mercenary muttered, looking at one of the grainy camera feeds. He thought he had seen some movement on the upper floors. After staring at the screen for a few more seconds, he shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"These cameras are garbage. No one could be up there, we secured the entire building!" He stared at the screens as he thought about his situation.

'This turned into a clusterfuck. We're surrounded by police, and Dovev isn't answering.'

The mercenary had a sudden realization: 'We're terrorists. The cops wouldn't handle this. They'd send in...' He never finished his thought as he frantically looked towards the first floor cameras, hoping that counter-terror units weren't preparing to breach the building.

* * *

"We've reached the objective, but there are three guards outside. Over." A soldier said into his radio.

The guards were standing around the doorway, with one on either side and a guard directly in front of the door.

There was a pause and then the commander started talking.

"I've got three outside here. Over."

"We've got three outside our door as well. We need to go loud. Over." Came a voice from the squad assigned to Takato and Henry.

"Affirmative. Move fast. Over." As soon as the commander finished, all three squads started firing. Three of the soldiers in the squad assigned to Kazu and Kenta fired two rounds into the chest of the each of the guards, sending them to the ground. The group sprinted forward only to receive blind fire from the prone middle guard.

"They've got body armor on!"

"Copy!"

The three soldiers delivered several shots into the downed men, killing them. They didn't slow down as the approached the door and plowed right into it, tearing it from its hinges. The mercenary leaning on the door was sent sprawling on the ground only to have the door fall on top of him. The mercenary in the corner fired two shots towards the group, but only the first round hit its target. The bullet buried itself in the armor and sent the soldier staggering back. The other soldiers fired five-round bursts into the mercenary's chest, the first few rounds to hit severely weakened the plate while the rounds after them penetrated the weakened armor.

The mercenary under the door managed to get his rifle free, and he aimed it at the soldiers in the room. Before he could fire, however, the soldier who had been staggered aimed his carbine and fired three rounds into the mercenary's face. He dropped the rifle and made no further movement. The soldiers looked over to the children and the teacher and quickly found Kazu and Kenta among the group. The group as a whole had pale faces and many mouths were open in shock. Suddenly, one student standing in a corner fell to his knees and vomited. Several others put their hands over their mouths and sat on the ground.

The soldier who had been staggered looked to his squad mates pointed to the hall.

"Go secure the hallway. I'll report the condition of the packages. Listen to your radios."

The two soldiers nodded and moved to secure the hallways. The remaining soldier raised his hand to the side of his head and activated the transmitter for his radio.

"Packages Tweedledee and Tweedledum, secure. Over."

* * *

With the information that the mercenaries had body armor in mind, the commander aimed at the legs of the startled guard on the left, a soldier behind him aimed for the one on the right, and a soldier on his left aimed for the middle guard. They fired simultaneously, before the guards could move from their positions. The soldiers were up and running before the guards had hit the ground. The commander and another soldier ran full speed at the door, while the third soldier slowed down to finish off the guards. The commander burst through the door expecting the enemy to try and block it. Instead, the mercenary had backed away and unlocked the door.

With the extra momentum, the commander stumbled into the mercenary in front of him. The mercenary was also caught by surprise, but managed to strike first. He used his rifle to wrench the carbine out of the commander's hand, sending it to the ground. The mercenary then tried to bring his up to fire. However, the commander disarmed him after he regained his balance. The two started to grapple, before the mercenary pushed and forced the commander back a couple steps. The mercenary pulled out his knife and, with a roar, lunged at the commander.

The soldier who had gone in with the commander managed to fire a short burst into the other mercenary across the room, sending him crumpling to the ground. He turned around and saw the other solider inside the doorway. They both looked to the grappling men between them.

The commander had the mercenary's knife-wielding hand in his grip, while the mercenary had commander's hand in his grasp with his other hand. They both struggled for dominance, one pushing and then the other pushing back. Suddenly, something made the mercenary's knees buckle and he fell towards the floor. The commander seized the opportunity and pounced on the downed man. He plunged his knife into the mercenary's throat and pulled the blade towards himself, severing the windpipe and both the arteries.

The commander scrambled to his feet and stepped away from the mercenary as he grasped his throat, trying to stop the bleeding in vain. The commander panted as stared at the dying man. He walked over to his carbine and picked it up, and looked to his comrade standing behind the mercenary. He had kicked the back of his knees, causing him to fall to the ground. The commander nodded his thanks, and then looked over to the huddled students.

The soldiers scanned the huddled group for several seconds, seemingly apathetic to the fear and shock the children were experiencing.

* * *

Jeri looked on in horror as she watched the mercenary slowly stop struggling, as the pool of blood underneath him grew larger and larger. She wanted to move, to run, to cry out, but all she managed to do was to put her hands over her mouth. She managed to move her eyes away from the now dead man and to the soldiers. Her eyes darted to each one until her eyes settled on the commander's visor. She gasped as he suddenly moved his hand up to his head, and placed it against the side of the helmet. A leftover reaction, from when the communication systems weren't internal. After a moment, his head, along with the other soldiers, suddenly turned to the door.

* * *

The commander activated the transmitter and said, "Package Lionheart secure. Over."

Over the radio he heard the two other squads report in.

"Packages Tweedledee and Tweedledum, secure. Over."

"Package Braniac, secure. Over."

The commander's blood chilled as he heard another report come in.

"Package Gogglehead is not secure! I repeat, Package Gogglehead is not secure! I require immediate assistance! Over!"

* * *

 **A.N.** \- Well, how was that? Does the rating need to go up? Anyway, I'm not totally happy with this, but I'm not sure what else will fit here. I'm obviously splitting this into two chapters. Takato and the others will be next chapter. I'll look this over with the first four chapters and try to make this a little better.

3/10/16- Added the merc watching the cameras scene, as I forgot that they had been used previously. That brought the word count up to about 1800 without the author notes. Not completely happy with that, but I'm not sure what else I could do here. Any suggestions?

4/4/16- Fixed the number of guards. Sorry!

Read and review, please!

 **Auf Widersehen!**


	6. Chapter 6

A.N.- 4/3/16: I literally started this chapter today, so I might not make the deadline. Anyway, this is supposed to tie up the first bit of action so far. Inserted a ninja edit for Chapters 1 and 4! It was nothing major.

4/4/16: I had to put in some edits for chapter 5. I goofed, and forgot how many mercenaries I had attacking.

4/10/16: Finished, more or less. I'll go ahead and post it. Radio communications are in italics. I had to put in a minor edit after I already posted. Do you get alerted for that?

 **Review replies!**

Defender31415: You're about to have your question answered, if I didn't answer it already!

Pittbuck: Here's the newest chapter, and it is actually the longest one so far! (I think)

 _Standard disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Digimon, they belong to Toei animation and Bandai of Japan. If I did, my OTPs would be canon._

* * *

 **Rika's School**

 **10:00 JST**

Rika was currently considering praying for something interesting to happen. She sat in the uncomfortable desk, in her uncomfortable uniform, with an uncomfortable headache. Her head was only kept up with her right hand, and her eyes only open out of pure willpower. She had been in her classes for nearly two hours, and she considered them the longest and most wasted two hours of her life. Rika glanced at the clock on her right, and then returned to her previous position. Her left hand reached up to tug at her hair, still in its trademark spiky bun, while her eyes bored into the front board.

'I would do literally anything to get out of here.' Rika thought as she glanced out the window on her left, scowling as she did so.

'Well, not anything, but I would do a lot of things.' She amended once she thought about different problems that thought could cause. Suddenly, an announcement came over the intercom.

"Attention staff and students, there have been reports of gunmen attacking a school in the area. As a precaution, we'll be going into a lock down. Please remain calm and await further instructions."

The announcement caused a small panic among the girls before the teacher spoke up in a loud voice.

"Please remain calm, girls. Move into the back of the room, and stay quiet." Immediately after saying that, the teacher moved to the door and locked it. He shut off the lights and moved into the back of the class with his students.

Rika glanced at her teacher, having completely ignored him up until this point. He was a middle-aged man with black hair. His face showed obvious signs of worry. Rika moved her attention past him and to the window, specifically to the kitsune on the other side of it. Renamon was sitting on a high branch, scanning her surroundings for danger. She had heard the announcement, and had moved to a position where she could see Rika and the surrounding area.

'The announcement said the gunmen were in the area. But they're obviously not here.' Rika thought, curious about the situation. 'Where are they attacking? How many schools are there?' Her thoughts immediately jumped to Takato and the others. 'No way. What are the odds?'

Rika looked over to Renamon and called to her through their link. 'Renamon...'

Renamon looked to Rika and responded. 'Don't worry Rika. I'll protect you.' She returned her focus to the surrounding area, scanning for any hostile beings.

Rika clenched her fists, upset at her situation. Stuck helplessly in a classroom, and ignorant of any useful information. She thought again of her friends. 'Please be okay.'

* * *

In the van carrying the mercenaries meant to kill Rika, said mercenaries were currently questioning the driver about their current position.

"You're sure this is the right spot? You're completely certain that Rika will take this route home?" Asked an American mercenary sitting in the passenger seat.

The driver gripped the steering wheel hard and ground his teeth. "No, I'm not sure. If Rika does walk home, however, this is the most direct route. We even have access to the traffic cameras in the area. We do have the cameras, yeah?" The driver, an Australian, glanced back toward the other mercenaries in the van. One had a laptop open, and he was staring intently at the screen.

"That's right. It wasn't too much trouble. It's not like we had anything else to do after we missed the deadline." The mercenary spoke with a slight Canadian accent, and glared at the driver.

The driver threw up his hands in frustration. "Who expected traffic at three fucking thirty? Because I sure as hell didn't!" The two looked about to engage in a long argument, so the American cut back in.

"Shut up, dipshits! Just keep calm until the girl shows up." He shook his head. "Take out your frustration on her."

The two mercenaries cast one last glare at each other, but complied. They settled back into their seats, and began waiting again.

* * *

 **Tamers' School**

 **10:35 JST**

The four-man squad sat in wait at the end of the hall opposite to their target location. They were in a two by two formation, crouched down against the wall, and were reporting their situation.

"We've got three outside our door as well. We need to go loud. Over." The soldier in the front nearest the wall said over the radio. The reply was quick.

" _Affirmative. Move fast. Over."_

With that, the soldiers in front leaned around the corner and fired several shots into the chests of the guards. The soldiers up front began to sprint down the hallway as the last two moved around the corner behind them. They made it a quarter of the way down the hall before they heard their comrades on the radio.

 _"They've got body armor on!"_

Upon hearing that, the four soldiers almost instinctively spread out, just in time to avoid several blind bursts from the guards. They began running as the mercenaries tried to sit up and properly aim their weapons.

The soldiers slowed enough to aim their weapons at the now crouching, and still disoriented, guards and fired a small burst into their heads. Before the last guard fell, the soldiers prepared to breach violently; the first two soldiers preparing to cover each others entrances, and the last two stepping to the side to avoid any initial fire.

The point soldier plowed into the locked door, forcing it open. He started to bring his carbine up to sweep and kill, only to receive a three round burst into his chest plate, right over his heart. The third round, being an armor-piercing round, easily penetrated his armor and tore through his heart.

The second soldier, now the point solider, quickly fired a burst into the mercenary's face, and moved into the room to continue the sweep. The last two soldiers moved into the doorway behind him. They all looked to the right into the back of the room to see the last mercenary near the students. As they aimed to kill, the mercenary fired a short burst and tried to get behind the huddled group of students. The burst hit the closest soldier in the leg, but he didn't let this go unpunished. The inured soldier fired a burst at the moving mercenary, and managed to hit him in the leg as well.

The last two uninjured soldiers moved up to cover their injured comrade, while the mercenary let his rifle clatter to the floor. The mercenary quickly lurched towards a student and snatched his arm; proceeding to draw his handgun, and move both arms closer to his body. He now had a frightened student in front of his body, with his pistol pressed to the teenager's head. The soldiers brought their carbines up to fire, only to freeze in horror as they recognized the unwilling human shield.

The mercenary released the student's arm, only to quickly place his arm around his neck. He positioned most of his body behind his shield by crouching, and lowered his head so that it was mostly obscured by the head of the wide-eyed student.

"That's right. I'm in control now." The mercenary said in a pained voice. He continued, "Lower your weapons and let me leave the room, or I blow Takato's brains out."

The two standing soldiers lowered their carbines, and raised their hands into the air. The injured soldier managed to sit himself up against the wall. While he was aware of the situation, he was mostly focused on controlling the bleeding in his leg.

The mercenary glanced at the soldiers, and satisfied that they were complying, rose to his feet. He started limping to the door, hauling Takato with him. He constantly kept his front, and Takato, facing the soldiers. He quickly backed out of the room and started down the hall.

The soldiers in the room looked over the remaining students and were relieved to see Henry among them. They two uninjured soldiers looked to their injured friend and asked, "Are you alright?"

Their injured friend managed to open his small medical kit and wrap some bandages over the wound. "I'm okay. I stopped the bleeding, more or less." He took a couple quick breaths and nodded to the other two soldiers. "Go on ahead. I'll stay and protect Braniac."

The soldiers needed no further encouragement, and they sped out of the room after Takato. The remaining soldier set his carbine in his lap, leaned his head against the wall, and sighed.

"Fucking hell, that hurts."

* * *

The mercenary moved as quickly as he could down the stairs, while still keeping a hold on Takato. Takato was, understandably, panicking.

'Oh, man. This is bad. I don't wanna die. Maybe there's something in my pockets?' With that thought, Takato quickly shoved his hands into his pockets, and tried to grab anything inside. He was roughly jerked upwards on his neck by the mercenary.

"Stop struggling, Takato." The mercenary grunted. "I couldn't care less about my objective anymore. As long as I get the hell outta here, I don't care about getting paid." The mercenary smiled little bit. "Though, if I do get to safety, I'll probably just kill you in the van. Apparently you're worth a lot of money."

Takato looked down at what he had grabbed with fleeting hope. He saw his D-Arc, an accuracy boost card, and a training grips card. He grimaced. 'Oh, crap. I hope those other guys can help.' Takato thought, referring to the soldiers.

* * *

 **10:40 JST**

The two soldiers were quickly moving after Takato, attempting to stay out of sight, while not losing the mercenary's trail.

"Should we call this in?" One soldier asked.

"...No. We're the closest to him. If we can't catch him, the others won't be able to catch him on foot either. It'll be better to keep them close to the transport. That way they can chase him from the air."

The soldier that asked nodded his head at the reasoning.

They rounded a corner to see stairs leading down to the ground floor. One soldier stayed next to the corner and looked around the hall while the second walked over to the stair's railing. He managed to catch a glimpse of the mercenary as he stepped onto the ground floor and moved out of sight. The soldier waved his comrade over and started down the stairs. The second soldier quickly caught up and they moved down the stairs and to the ground floor. They looked around only to find that they had lost sight of their target.

"He's probably going to try and escape through the main entrance. It's larger, and opens to a wide area, so it'll be easier to maneuver." One soldier reasoned. The other soldier nodded, and both being satisfied by the reasoning, moved towards the new objective.

"If we're lucky, the Japanese SAT and police will stop him from running away!" One soldier called to the other as he rounded the corner to the main office. The second soldier was a second behind him, and moved into the hall just in time to see his comrade receive a single shot through his throat, and through his brain stem as well. The remaining soldier slowed and raised his carbine to see a group of three mercenaries at the end of the hall. He aimed his carbine to fire upon the new enemies only to get hit in his side, the round tearing through his armor and underlying muscle. He stumbled from the pain, and fell into a doorway onto his right.

He reached for his radio only for it to become filled with reports from his comrades.

" _Package Lionheart secure. Over."_

" _Packages Tweedledee and Tweedledum, secure. Over."_

" _Package Braniac, secure. Over."_

The soldier swore as the mercenaries started firing burst at him and his cover as he reached for his transmit button.

"Package Gogglehead is not secure! I repeat, Package Gogglehead is not secure! I require immediate assistance! Over!"

With that report, the soldier positioned his carbine around the corner and let loose with a blind burst towards the mercenaries.

* * *

Anderson lowered his rifle as he saw the second soldier duck behind cover. He had fired a single shot, which resulted in the prone soldier, who was now creating a pool of blood. He turned and sprinted back towards the office as the other two mercenaries moved behind the corners of the intersecting hallway they were in, and they started pelting the pinned and injured soldier with several bursts from their rifles.

Anderson smiled. Thanks to his ally, they had been able to set up a small trap for the soldiers, and they had some insurance for getting out alive. He looked out the front doors to see the injured mercenary making his way towards a van through the front of the school.

* * *

Guilmon was running as fast as he could through the streets towards Takato's school, and was so focused on reaching his goal that he didn't even notice that a group of people had formed an impromptu wall in his path. Luckily for the crowd, someone shouted a warning and the crowd split before Guilmon reached them. He continued at his top speed and barreled through a police barricade, continuing towards his destination. He only slowed when he reached the gate of the school, which was closed. His eyes, with their narrowed pupils; as he was in his viral state, darted around until he spied Takato through the bars. He snarled as he noticed Takato was being held, and that there was a gun to his head. The snarl served to cause the surrounding officers to back away as he moved his head around to find a way past the obstacle. He spied a car parked close to the wall, so he leaped onto it, and over the wall with a single thought on his mind.

'I must save Takato!'

* * *

 **10:45 JST**

Takato and his mercenary captor slowly made their way out of the school, and into the front of the school. Behind them was a thin trail of blood, and ahead of them was a wall, and around that was a wall of police and counter-terrorism units. Beyond that wall sat the last van, as the others had driven off towards their base once the police arrived. The mercenary blanched at the sight.

'One van!? Dovev left us to die!' His eyes narrowed and he scowled. 'I'll kill him. After I get my money, of course.' He looked around to the nearing counter-terror units and started backing away.

"Come any closer and the kid dies! You speak English, right?" He called out as he backed towards the remaining van. He cast a glance back at the school and saw gunfire in the main lobby. Then he looked upwards and saw a few soldiers trying to line up a shot.

'No one must have an angle on me. I really should be dead by now. No snipers?' He looked around for any signs of a waiting sniper, but was distracted by a red blur moving over the far wall. It landed to reveal a small, red, saurian. Takato saw him as well.

"Guilmon!" Takato started struggling again, but was forced downwards as the mercenary panicked and tried to line up a shot on Guilmon. Takato saw Guilmon prepare to launch a pyrosphere and rapidly brought up his D-Arc and the accuracy boost card.

"Digimodify! Accuracy boost activate!" Takato called as he slashed the card.

Time seemed to slow down as Guilmon launched his accuracy boosted attack, and the mercenary fired. Guilmon's attack was aimed somewhere at the mercenary's side, while the mercenary shot at Guilmon's torso. The first attack to hit was the bullet, but the small round seemed to bounce off of Guilmon's thick hide. Guilmon's pyrosphere caused significantly more damage, hitting the mercenary's right shoulder, actually tearing through it, and continuing into the wall behind him. The arm, and the gun in the hand, went flying back as the mercenary fell back screaming. He released Takato to grab onto the now limbless shoulder. Takato got up to his knees and looked at the mercenary, expecting to see a large pool of blood. To his surprise, the blood was just trickling from the wound. The pyrosphere actually cauterized the wound. Takato then turned his attention to a noise behind him, and saw two soldiers run out of the entrance and towards him. Takato started to move away from the still screaming mercenary, only to be tackled to the ground by Guilmon.

"I made it just in time, Takato!" Guilmon said as he crushed his friend in a hug. Takato returned the hug and laughed in relief.

The two soldiers ran up and pointed their carbines at the downed mercenary. The mercenary looked into their faceless visors and attempted to back away.

"Don't move! You're coming with us!"

The mercenary, instead of replying verbally, moved his jaw around, bit down, and swallowed. He then began seizing.

The soldiers backed up and looked at his face.

"Cyanide."

* * *

 **Rika's School**

 **12:00 JST**

Once the authorities sounded the all clear at the Tamer's school, the other schools were released from lock down and dismissed the students. Luckily for the mercenaries, Rika decided to walk home instead of waiting for a ride.

The mercenaries had heard about the failure of their comrades, and the lack of response from Dovev. Regardless, their position seemed uncompromised, and their payment was assured. Though, given the amount of time that had passed, the mercenaries had grown tired and lazily sat in the van, except for the Canadian who was staring at his laptop intently. The Canadian mercenary suddenly straightened up in his seat, causing his allies to flinch, reach for their weapons, and stare at the Canadian.

"There she is!" he exclaimed with a smile.

"She's just down the street. Only one on the sidewalk." He glared at the driver and kicked the back of his seat.

"Drive, idiot!" The Canadian yelled.

The American's radio suddenly came to life as the van began speeding down the street.

" _Don't kill the girl! The plan has changed. Kidnap her. We can lure the others into a trap!"_ Dovev shouted, his voice barely hiding his panic.

"Copy." The American in the front grunted into his radio, as he prepared to jump out.

He looked into the girl's startled eyes as he jumped from the van, and rolled in front of her. He rose to a knee and leveled his rifle at her head.

The van swerved onto the sidewalk behind her, and the other mercenaries clambered out of the back. They moved to form a circle around the girl. The American rose to his feet and spoke in English.

"You're coming with us."

The girl didn't get a chance to reply, however, as the mercenary on her left was sent flying backwards from a white and yellow blur impacting his chest. Rika glanced over to see Renamon shift her attention to the American in front of Rika. Renamon launched herself at him and punched him in the chest, sending him to the ground and skidding a few feet. Not stopping for a moment, she jumped into the air and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon called, launching her attack at the two mercenaries on Rika's left side. The shards flew into the two panicking mercenaries, and sent them falling to the ground. They screamed in pain as the shards tore into their unarmored body, and some even piercing the weaker armor. Rika quickly looked away as the blood began pooling beneath the dead mercenaries, and her attention was captured by the last mercenary behind her. He aimed his rifle directly into her face as he had a panicked look on his own.

"Call her off!" The mercenary ordered in English with a heavy Russian accent.

Rika took a panicked step back and noticed that his attention was on Renamon behind her, and not on herself. She dove to the side and landed roughly on the ground as Renamon dashed towards the man. The Russian squeezed the trigger as he glared at the kitsune, and managed to land a few hits on Renamon. She slowed from the hits, but didn't stop.

"Power paw!" Renamon called out as she delivered a punch into his chest. Rika ignored the crunching sound as Renamon's punch impacted the mercenary. He fell back onto the grass next to the sidewalk, and remained immobile.

Renamon rushed over to Rika and picked her up, cradling her in her arms. She looked down at Rika as she sped off towards her home. She didn't pay any attention to the van that drove away, or the small disturbance shifting the grass near the Russian body.

"Are you alright?"

Rika looked up into Renamon's eyes as she answered. "I'm alright." She was silent for a moment before she continued. "Do you remember that nightmare I had last night?" Without waiting for a response Rika finished. "That was the nightmare, Renamon."

They landed in front of the house as Rika finished and they both took a moment to catch their breaths. Rika suddenly gave Renamon a quick hug and said, "Thank you, Renamon." She quickly released the kitsune and started for the gate. "Let's go inside and rest."

Renamon smiled as she followed Rika inside, but she stopped short of the gate. She frowned as she looked around the area, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary, continued inside.

Back at the scene of the attack, a lone stealth commando radioed in his report.

" _Renamon took care of the mercenaries. You're gonna want to clean this all up as fast as possible."_

* * *

A.N.- Well. I got this done on the 10th. Not totally happy with it, but I couldn't do this from the Tamers POV without it coming across as forced and unrealistic. Well, that wraps up the first bit of action for this story. This was the longest chapter so far too. Almost 4,000 words. The next couple of chapter are gonna be slower paced, probably focusing more on how the Tamers handle things, among other things. How's the formatting look? Any suggestions for improvements? Anyway, read and review please!

 **Auf Widersehen!**


	7. Chapter 7

Here's the first of the quad update this month! I was hoping to start finishing this chapter last week (It's June 6th right now), but school was surprisingly exhausting. That's all done now, and I don't have any fanfics I'm reading, so I'm diving into this!

6/12/16- Got two more scenes done. Almost finished, though still behind schedule.

6/13/16- Another scene finished. It looks like this will be one of the longest chapters so far.

6/20/16- Spent a week trying to figure out a single scene, just for me to realize it fits in the next chapter far better. Anyway, that quad update isn't happening this month. As long as I'm back on schedule before Christmas... Moving on, reasons for the delay include, but are not limited to: college, trivial IRL stuff, not so trivial IRL stuff, and me reading some other fanfics. Gonna try to post this tomorrow. Also, that scene isn't finished.

I've decided to emulate another author and move review replies to the bottom.

Radio and phone communications are in italics.

 _Standard disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Digimon, they belong to Toei animation and Bandai of Japan. If I did, my OTPs would be canon._

* * *

 **10:40 JST**

 **Jeri's Classroom**

The commander seemed quite calm after hearing the news that Takato wasn't safe. His head lowered as he gazed at the floor and thought of possible solutions. His comrade's attention snapped to him as he shot his head up.

"Andrei, I want your squad to move to the ground floor and clean up the resistance." Andrei's squad was the group that saved Kazu and Kenta.

The commander turned his attention to the window and walked over to it, looking towards the mercenary outside. His comrades joined him on his left after a moment. He grimaced in his helmet as he turned his head toward the others and started to speak. The others moved their attention to their commander to see his head twitch to the right as he held up his hand. The commander's attention was on the private communication channel that had just been established.

" _Commander. I need you and your men to grab the bodies, and as many of their weapons as possible. Hopefully, one of them will have a lead to Dovev, or his suppliers."_

"Yes sir." The commander quickly replied. He switched back to the usual channel and started giving out orders.

"Anyone who can walk, start collecting bodies and weapons. Load them up on the transport." As his men moved to carry out their orders, the commander directed orders to the pilots. "Decloak the ship and lower the door. We're bringing back a lot of extra cargo." He didn't wait for a confirmation before he grabbed the mercenary he killed and hefted him over his shoulder. The others had two mercenaries either in their arms or on their backs. The weapons had been piled on top of the bodies in the soldier's arms.

The commander lead them out of the classroom and towards the stairwell the entered the building in at a swift pace. He opened the door, swung it wide open and dashed up the stairs to the roof. Being on the top floor, it didn't take long. He opened the last door in a similar manner to the first one, and held it open for his comrades.

"Hopefully, I shouldn't have to say this, but I will anyway. Use the stairwell we came in through. It goes top to bottom, with no interruptions." The commander broadcast over the radio.

After the others had run past, he let the door shut and followed the others. They stopped in front of the transport door and dropped the bodies. The commander was in the middle of the three, and he pointed to the soldier on his right.

"Load the bodies and weapons into the transport. Cram them in good, because we need to fit in a lot."

The commander activated the transmitter on the radio and asked, "What's the sitrep?"

" _Andrei's squad reporting, we just cleared the ground floor, and are moving to secure Gogglehead."_

" _Louis's squad here, I've got one dead and one injured, I need assistance."_

He turned to the soldier on his left as the other soldier started loading the ship.

"We're going down to the third floor to grab bodies, then we need to empty the second floor." The two dashed to the door, before they reached it the commander slowed as his comrade opened it. The commander reached for a spare clip as the other soldier looked at his commander. The commander leaned down and wedged the ammo clip under the door, forcing it to stay open. He rose to his feet and looked to the soldier.

"Do not let me forget that." They dashed down the stairs after a quick nod, and began the last step of their mission.

* * *

 **10:45 JST**

 **With Takato**

" _Anyone who can walk, start collecting bodies and weapons. Load them up on the transport."_

With that order, the two soldiers immediately moved to carry it out. One threw the mercenary over his shoulder, while the other grabbed the severed arm and rifle. Takato glanced at them in confusion from his kneeling position, while three SATs began moving closer. The soldiers cast a glance at the approaching SATs and quickly began moving towards the school.

Takato cast a final glance at the soldiers as they retreated, then looked to the blood and other fluids left behind from the corpse. As his senses cleared, a squad of heavily armed Japanese moved to him and helped him to his feet. He didn't focus on what they were saying, instead, he focused on his clearing sense of smell.

'What is that?' He wondered, as the smell began to pierce the haze brought on by his body's natural reaction to flood his system with adrenaline.

He started gagging as he was ushered towards an ambulance. Takato looked to Guilmon at his side as he tried to ignore the stench.

'Is that what they mean by the smell of death?' Takato wondered.

He continued to think about what had just happened to him as he was sat on the back of an ambulance. Guilmon thought about hopping on with him, but decided to stand next to him on the ground instead. A paramedic placed a blanket on to Takato's shoulders and then began checking him for obvious injuries.

'I don't want Guilmon to do that again.' Takato though as he looked to his friend, who was gazing back at him with concern. 'This is so different. We need some other way to handle these kinds of attacks.' Takato's attention was brought back to reality as he heard a question.

"Are you alright?"

Takato wasn't sure who asked it, but he answered anyway. "Yes, I'm alright."

The paramedic took a few steps back and Guilmon grinned.

* * *

 **10:45 JST  
**

 **Ground Floor**

The injured soldier hefted his fallen comrade onto his shoulders with a pained grunt, and nearly collapsed. He took a few steadying breaths and rose up to a steady position. He cast his eyes over to the lone soldier inside with him, and the pile of bodies and weapons at his feet. His attention, and his faceless visage, settled on his comrade's face. He painfully spoke.

"Haul as many as you can. We need to move." He took a few breaths as his comrade hefted a mercenary on to his back. "I've got point." He turned to head to the transport when the front doors flew open and his other comrades rushed inside.

"We need to move, now! The SAT's are right on our ass!" The soldier carrying the body yelled. The two ran to the pile and started grabbing bodies and weapons. The soldier carrying the arm and rifle started filling his arms with the weapons on the floor, while the other two uninjured soldiers grabbed two bodies with their hands and decided to drag them. They moved as quickly as they could towards the stairs, but they momentarily slowed as a clatter of metal and wood hitting tiles was heard.

"Damn!" The soldier carrying the weapons exclaimed as he looked at the fallen rifles. He began to move to grab them before they all heard commotion at the front doors.

"Leave them! We've got enough!"

The soldiers began moving faster and had nearly reached the stairwell when a burst if gunfire hit a wall near them.

"Freeze!" A new voice called out in Japanese. The soldiers glanced back at the Japanese man, but continued their dash into the stairwell.

The Japanese man cursed and brought his radio to his mouth.

"The unknown gunmen have moved into the stairwell. Should I pursue?"

The response was quick. _"Negative. It could be a trap. Secure the floor and we'll regroup."_

The trio had hardly began their arduous trek to the roof before the door to the second floor burst open and a soldier with a dead comrade on his shoulders burst into the stairwell. They shared moment of silent surprise before the newcomer limped ahead and was quickly followed by two more soldiers, one easily identified as their commander by an emblem on his shoulder, each hauling two bodies. As they were passing the third floor they heard the door on the first floor open and several pairs of boots move up the stairwell. The group simultaneously increased their pace and breezed past the fourth floor. The entire group was panting as they rushed onto the roof and moved to the transport. The commander had stopped and moved back to the door as the last soldier made it through. He shifted the body on his shoulders and shot his left leg out. He kicked the ammo clip towards the transport and moved to rejoin his comrades.

The mercenaries corpses formed a pile while two soldiers were filling the last of the space under the seats with corpses. The commander leaned down to pick up his ammo clip and quickly rose up. He cast a glance at the door and then at the pile.

"Shove 'em in!" He barked. "We are out of time!" With that, the bodies and weapons were thrown haphazardly into the transport, while those of their allies were laid on the benches. As the last soldier made it into the ship, the door began to close and the commander moved to the cabin.

"Cloak and get us out of here!"

The pilots complied, activating the cloaking system and pushing the engines into giving the proper amount of thrust. The soldiers in the back clambered for anything to hold onto as the engines shifted to provide forward propulsion and the secondary lift systems took effect.

* * *

 **12:10 JST**

 **Near Rika's School**

The stealth commando stood behind a shrub patiently waiting for his comrades to arrive. He glanced at the clock on his HUD and saw that it had been five minutes since he had radioed the location for the clean up squad.

His attention was brought to the street as he heard a speeding vehicle coming towards the area. A dark-green windowless van screeched to a stop in front of the bodies. Before the van had stopped moving, the passenger and rear doors had opened and four armored men stepped out. The stealth commando watched as they grabbed the dead mercenaries and unceremoniously tossed them in the back of the van. In under a minute, the bodies and weapons were out of sight and the soldiers soon followed suit.

The stealth commando shifted his weight as the van peeled away from the scene, and drove to some unknown location. It didn't matter to him. It wasn't any of his concern. The commando walked over to the sidewalk and stared at the blood pooled there. He remained stationary for a few moments before he turned his head to his left and looked down he road.

" _Stealth commando 819 reporting, the bodies and weapons have been picked up."_

" _Report confirmed. Move on to your next objective."_ Came the hushed reply of his superior.

The commando turned the rest of his body to the left and proceeded down the road, hoping to get out of the area before the police sealed it off.

'Note to self: don't piss off Renamon.' He idly thought to himself as he walked.

* * *

 **12:30 JST**

 **Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building**

Being an organization initially designed to monitor internet and other similar activity, Hypnos had a front seat to chatter and speculation whenever something high-profile happened. Yamaki's orders, and subsequently his subordinate's orders, were to monitor communication channels for any suspicious activity, like communication between suspects. However, any communication that was taking place was buried among chaff from anyone else who had heard about the attacks.

Yamaki looked up to Riley and Tally, both of whom were working to dredge through the massive influx of information. The most common keywords on social media and other communication channels were displayed on the screened ceiling. Yamaki flicked his lighter open and closed as he read the words. Terrorist, madman, digimon. The list continued, but Yamaki grimaced at the last one.

'Digimon always come up in disasters now. Ridiculous.' Yamaki thought.

He looked at the rest of the list. Cover-up, aliens, zombies. Yamaki rolled his eyes at the last three. They were quickly being lowered on the list as other keywords appeared more frequently.

"Have you found any chatter than may involve attackers of any kind?" Yamaki called out to the two women above him.

"Negative, sir." Riley called down.

"I'm afraid we've got another night of overtime." Yamaki muttered. Yamaki increased the rate at which he played with his lighter. Suddenly, Yamaki's cellphone started ringing. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. It was blocked. He raised his eyebrow, but moved to answer it anyway. Blocked numbers weren't unheard of in his line of work.

"Mitsuo Yamaki speaking."

" _Hello, Yamaki."_ The man on the other end replied. _"I have a request for you."_

Yamaki wandered over to a computer and questioned the man on the other end of the call. "Who are you?"

" _I'm a man with... a similar interest in the well being of the Tamers as you."_ As the man was talking, Yamaki typed a quick message for Riley and sent it to her computer. 'Trace the my call.'

"A similar interest, eh?" Yamaki replied. He looked up to Riley and she nodded at him. Yamaki took that to mean that she had started.

"What request do you have?" Yamaki asked.

" _I want you to request that the names of the Tamers, and even the fact that the Tamers were involved, should be withheld from the official report on the attack. In fact, their names should be withheld for everything they're involved in until this blows over."_

"And how do you suppose I do that? Whoever you are, you seem to know that I posses some clout in the government."

" _Claim the information is to be withheld for security reasons."_

Yamaki looked up at Riley after the man spoke. She motioned for him to continue.

"I'm going to need something more substantial than 'security reasons.'" Yamaki replied.

The man on the other end sighed. _"I can tell you that the Tamers were, and will be, the primary targets."_

Yamaki went rigid. "How do you know that?"

The voice on the other end became cold. _"I just do. You have information, Yamaki. You're a smart man. Use it."_ The man ended the call.

Yamaki glared at his phone and then to Riley.

"I wasn't able to track the call, sir." Riley looked down to Yamaki. "In fact, I couldn't even follow the signal past the cell tower you're connected to. It's like it wasn't going through the network at all."

Yamaki placed his phone back in his pocket and began furiously playing with his lighter. Riley returned to her original task and Yamaki began pacing. He continued for several minutes before he came to a decision.

'I'll go along with this man's request if for no other reason than to limit panic. If people learn that the Tamers were involved, then some people will instantly begin making assumptions that Digimon are to blame.' Yamaki thought to himself. He went back over the conversation in his head. 'I can't place his accent.' He realized.

* * *

 **15:45 JST**

 **Destroyer HES Pahanin- International airspace**

The mercenaries' bodies had been brought aboard the ship a few hours ago, and had quickly been moved to the morgue. The bodies had been set on all the open tables, and in several of the cabinets that made up two of the walls. The room was lifeless except for two women wearing army uniforms near the entrance. While both were relatively short, one was slightly taller than the other. The taller officer had short, white, hair, pale skin, light blue eyes, and a faint scar over her left eye. The shorter officer had short, black, hair; though it almost looked red in the light. She too had pale skin, and her eyes were almost silver. On both of their epaulets the women had the same rank, Lieutenant Colonel.

The white-haired woman sighed and glared at the door, while the other merely hummed a random tune. This continued for a few moments before the door burst open and a blonde man quickly made his way inside. He was several inches taller than the girls, so he had to look down with his blue eyes at them as he greeted the two. His skin had a green tinge to it, and his epaulet displayed the same rank as the other two.

"Sorry I'm late, ladies. You know how I get on these ships." The man said. His name tag read 'Arc'.

"Honestly, I've never seen someone in the Army handle ships so poorly." The white-haired woman said. Her name tag read 'Schnee'.

"Now that everyone is here," started the black-haired woman, "We can begin." Her name tag read 'Rose'.

The three put on latex gloves, looked over the corpses, and moved to the closest one; who also happened to have the least amount of damage. His weapons were placed on top of his body in a small pile. Arc spoke up first.

"Well, they're obviously not Japanese."

Schnee nodded. "The last of the blood samples were run down to the hangar for transport. They'll be tested within two days. We'll know if they're on any list then"

Rose reached for the largest weapon, a rifle. She brought it close to her face as she examined it.

"This is a Kalashnikov. An AK-74 specifically." She looked for any identification, and frowned when she found were it should have been. "The serial numbers seem to have been scratched off. These weapons are far too common to track otherwise."

Rose placed it aside and picked up the hand gun. "This is a Glock 32." She said with a frown. "Also common, and any identification has been removed." She looked for a holster on the body, and saw it under the man's arm. "Cross-draw position." She noted.

She set the handgun on the rifle and went for the last weapon. A knife. "This is a Tanto style blade. Japanese. They probably picked these up in country." She looked for a holster and saw it on the hip. As she set it aside, she voiced a thought. "Perhaps we can track the blades. A bulk order would have been the most efficient, though easier to track." Rose stepped aside and let Schnee step up to the table.

Schnee looked over the uniform and grabbed some of the fabric with her fingers. "Digital Urban camouflage BDUs, obviously. If the weapons were any indication, these are probably military surplus." She sighed. "Since this is just clothing, it isn't regulated. The uniforms could have been bought almost anywhere." She continued to look over the uniforms for a moment before she motioned for Arc to come over. "There's the armor pocket." She said, pointing to the edge.

She stepped aside as Arc opened the pocket and removed the armor. "Steel plate." He observed. He ran his fingers over the dents, and then turned it over in his hands. His expression fell. "Civilian brand, I'm afraid." he turned to the other two. "Could have been bought or stolen." He set the plate down on the body and stepped back.

The three moved over to a trashcan and placed the gloves inside.

"Aside from the knives, this was an incredibly frustrating inspection." Schnee spoke. The other two nodded in agreement. They moved to leave, but were intercepted by another soldier as he entered the room.

He moved in front of them, snapped to attention, and saluted. "Colonel Schnee, Colonel Rose, Colonel Arc." He greeted.

The three colonels returned the salute and Schnee spoke up. She glanced at the man's rank as she spoke. "At ease, Major. What do you need?"

"The Commander in Chief sent a request for a report from each of you by tomorrow." The Major reported. "Also," he continued, "The blood samples left for testing a few minutes ago."

Schnee nodded. "Is that all?" She questioned.

The Major nodded. "If you're finished here, I can inform the Captain that the bodies may be moved for autopsy. After that, we'll be on our way."

"The sooner the better." Arc spoke up, raising his hand to his mouth.

"Dismissed!" Schnee ordered the major. She looked to her comrades and saw that Rose was looking at Arc with a smirk on her face. She rolled her eyes and began walking to the hangar.

* * *

 **A.N.-** (6/20/16) Well, that was chapter seven. Hardly any Tamers, I know, but I really couldn't find a way to fit them in here. Next chapter is completely Tamers. Gonna have to get some help though... Anyway, a couple references at the end, both were rather obvious. One might have fewer people recognize its origins though. I think this turned out alright, all things considered. Though, I do cringe a bit at Takato's last thoughts. They seem forced, but I'm not sure how else to phrase it. There are also a few other areas I don't quite like. I don't have the luxury of sitting on these chapters for months to iron out the kinks like I did when I started writing this, not with my current capabilities anyway. You still reading this? Then I hereby declare myself the Squid King. Here's the generic "read and review" line. It is appreciated, but I'm feeling a bit sarcastic right now.

Review replies:

pittbuck: By far, my most loyal reviewer. I apologize for the disappointment with updates, but life got complicated. I'm in a transition period right now, or so I've heard people describe it. I'm sad to say updates will be sporadic until I get a few things under control. However, when I do work on this, I'll be working towards catching up with my original schedule for updates.

Defender31415: My second most loyal reviewer at this point. I offer the same apology with the updates as I did with pittbuck. There wasn't much action here, nor was there intended to be. This is the immediate tail end and aftermath of a battle, so I planned to have the new ally gather intel, and for Yamaki to step in.

Basara-Jay: My newest reviewer, and one I was actually quite excited to see. Since you're new as of chapter six, I imagine you're not as disappointed as the others may be. However, I still apologize for the wait. It was not part of my plan, and sadly most of it was avoidable. A rather unpleasant realization that procrastination is in fact, very bad. Hopefully this is a mistake that I only have to make once before I learn my lesson. I can tell you that in the next chapter, things settle down a bit and things that we discussed a bit begin to be dealt with.

I thank each and every one of you for reading, and I ask of you to please bear with me. I have so many plans, and I will not see them fail.

6/21/16- Final edit. Posting today.

 **Auf** **Wiedersehen** **!**


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